7 health resolutions that’ll save you money

Because sticking to your goals is easier when cash is on the line

By

JenWieczner

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Drain your Flexible Spending Account

Why wait til Jan. 1 to start checking off your New Year’s resolutions? If you have a Flexible Spending Account — the pretax benefit that can be used for a year’s worth of health-care expenses — that you haven’t maxed out for 2012 yet, get to it. Buy glasses and contact lenses, get your annual check-ups, stock up on prescription drugs (for the full list of eligible expenses, see Publication 502 at IRS.gov). Those who have cash remaining even after that — or who can’t fit another single to-do on the list before year-end — may still have a chance to make the most of their benefit. Some companies offer a grace period for spending FSA money. Employees should check their plan details to see whether they’re allowed a few weeks or even months to use the up the balance, says Tom Billet, a senior consultant at Towers Watson. Then act fast: The IRS limits such grace periods to two and a half months, meaning the right to claim those funds will expire before St. Patrick’s Day. After that, the money in the account is forfeit.

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Lose weight

It’s the resolution that seems made to be broken each year. But many employers are betting that workers will be more committed to exercising and shedding those extra pounds if there’s money on the line. According to Towers Watson, 80% of U.S. companies now offer health-care incentives in the form of premium reductions or cash rebates — say, for going to Weight Watchers meetings or for lowering your body mass index and cholesterol. And there’s a bigger pot up for grabs than ever, as the new health law has increased the share of premiums employers can pay using such programs. More than half of companies rewarded participation in weight-management programs in 2011, and 64% incentivized biometric screenings that measure blood pressure and BMI. The prize criteria run the gamut, from $50 or so for filling out an online health-risk questionnaire (which companies use to appraise how much employees’ habits will cost them) to hundreds of dollars for walking a certain amount of steps, as measured by a pedometer. While some companies allow employees to rack up points that can be redeemed for money or prizes by checking off a list of health-care tasks, others reduce premiums or deposit cash into a health savings account. Companies paid an average of $460 in health-improvement perks per employee in 2011, according to a survey by Fidelity Investments and the National Business Group on Health.

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Quit smoking

Companies are also offering cash for quitting cigarettes. Just enrolling in a smoking-cessation program, which companies now offer online, could knock $100 off premiums, says Doug Ghertner, CEO of Change Healthcare, which makes a cost-comparison tool for health plans and their members. About a third of companies rewarded or penalized employees depending on whether they smoked in 2011, according to Towers Watson. Even if an employer doesn’t offer an incentive to stop, quitting tobacco could remove premium penalties like smoking surcharges: According to some plans’ policies, if an employee can go tobacco-free for six to 12 months, he or she could start saving on premiums by June, says Billet. The savings could add up to a few hundred dollars in rebates a year, he adds. Not to mention the hundreds — if not thousands — of dollars spent on cigarettes.

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See your doctor

The Affordable Care Act requires complimentary coverage of preventive health-care services — everything from checkups to flu shots to birth control pills. While experts advise taking advantage of these health-care freebies, they also recommend looking up your particular plan’s specifications. Medicare and some private insurance plans, for example, distinguish between an annual physical exam and a wellness exam; while wellness exams will be fully covered, physicals may have a copay, so patients should specify that they want a wellness exam when they book the appointment, says Cheryl Fish-Parcham, deputy director of Health Policy for Families USA, a consumer health advocacy group. While about 16 preventive services are fully covered for adults (plus 22 more for women and 27 for children) under the health-reform law, some employers reimburse 100% of the cost of other preventive procedures, so consumers should take a closer look at their plans to find potential hidden health-care treasure, says Ghertner. The U.S. Department for Health and Human Services expects that the free services could save Americans hundreds of millions of dollars — not just in copays, but on major expenses avoided through early disease detection and prevention. See 16 Covered Preventive Services for Adults

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Commit to a primary care physician or “medical home”

Even healthy people who don’t need to see a doctor very often could benefit from establishing a relationship with a dedicated care provider. “They’re someone who can help you understand the treatment and coordinate the treatment,” says Linda Adler, founder and CEO of Pathfinders Medical, a group of health advocates that negotiate on patients’ behalf. Partnering with a health provider allows the doctor or nurse practitioner to follow up with patients about health issues and treatment plans, acting as a so-called medical home. People who have access to such coordinated care stay healthier, say experts, and save money in the long-term: One study found that patients in such a primary-care model in Seattle visited the E.R. 29% less and had 6% fewer hospitalizations than those who didn’t, saving each about $10 a month. Another recent study by the Geisinger Center for Health Research found that patients who were treated in comprehensive primary-care clinics saved 4% to 7% in medical costs over four years (depending on whether prescription drug coverage was factored in).

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Shop around

While Americans are used to shopping around for holiday presents, they’re less accustomed to doing so for health care.That’s because, historically, comparing the costs of various care providers and facilities was too difficult, experts say. But consumers now have more tools at their disposal than ever before. Common scans and procedures such as mammograms and diabetes tests can vary in price by hundreds or thousands of dollars, even in the same zip code, according to Change Healthcare. The firm found that a CT scan of the abdomen cost $532 at an outpatient clinic and $6,238 at a hospital within 20 miles of each other. Experts recommend asking doctors if the test they ordered would cost less at a facility other than the one the patient was referred to. The same goes for surgical procedures: Operations will be cheaper at an ambulatory center than at an in-patient hospital, say experts.

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Treat your family and friends better

For adult children worried that 2013 may be the year they have to shell out for a nursing home or long-term-care facility for their aging parents — or provide another year of intense caregiving on their own — there may be affordable alternatives that won’t put the health of their loved ones at risk. New technology and services can reduce the need for a full-time home assistant and allow adults to check in on their folks occasionally without sacrificing as much work and leisure time — a burden that can also take a toll on the health of the caregiving children, says Adler. Robotic assistants, for example, can aid retirees and sometimes even track their heart rate. There are also high-tech sensor systems that monitor seniors and send text, phone or email alerts to their children or caregiver for a fraction of the cost of a full-time facility; GrandCare Systems, for one, charges $100 a month after a $500 installation fee. And a few websites, like Carelinx.com, help consumers looking to hire a caregiver find vetted and trustworthy professionals within their budget. And for those who need to spend on soup-to-nuts care, Adler recommends hiring a medical money manager on retainer to negotiate caregiving costs, since good advocates will more than pay for themselves in the savings they provide.

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